Home Inspection Training Peachtree City

Hidden treasure: Chance find, man's effort bring family's history home

This story is like one of those surprises on "Antiques Roadshow."

A man buys some furniture at an estate sale from a former plantation and finds some papers more than a century old in a buffet drawer, including a bill of sale for four slaves. He puts the papers in a file cabinet, where they remain for nearly 35 years.

He finally decides to track down the family. The family is delighted to find out more about their ancestor. They hope the findings might boost an effort to restore a Berkeley County historic site, maybe even turn it into a tourist attraction. The man who found the papers feels better.

Such is the story of the long-forgotten documents of George Lynes, the minister who owned Foxbank Plantation between modern Goose Creek and Moncks Corner.

The story starts in 1978, when Russ Breault, who now lives in Peachtree City, Ga., found a bundle of papers in the drawer of a buffet he bought at an estate sale. He believed the furniture came from Foxbank Plantation.

Many of the papers related to George Lynes. An 1845 bill of sale for four slaves was nestled alongside an 1849 certificate of ordination of Lynes as a Baptist minister.

Breault said he knew the papers were valuable and put them in a file cabinet. He put the bill of sale between two sheets of plastic so he could show it off from time to time without damaging it.

"I certainly recognized that they had value, and my dilemma was I didn't really purchase these documents," Breault said by telephone last week. "They just happened to be in the buffet that I bought."

A few weeks ago, Breault felt it was time to look for Lynes' descendants.

He found Jack Lynes of Aiken, George's great-great-grandson, through an Internet search that led him to his genealogical website. They met in a restaurant near the Atlanta airport, and Breault turned over the papers, free of charge.

Lynes, an insurance inspector who had spent years studying his family tree, was thrilled.

"We haven't discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls or anything," Lynes said, "but it's still remarkable that a man, unknown to us, more than 30 years ago bought some old furniture and in them was discovered old family papers, and then all these years later has come forward to give them back."

Lynes points out that Breault knows the value of historic artifacts. He's spent much of his time since 1978 studying and lecturing on the Shroud of Turin. Many believe it to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, the image burned on it by the power of his resurrection.

my services: Cape Town Accommodation - Tree House Play

As I passed around glasses, for the good life we ​​toasted. Standing on the roof we were enjoying the view of the mother city. South Africa's northern regions, it is often called the Cape Town Mother City to be anything because it takes nine months. Now the truth is called the Cape Town Mother City, it reflects the city's environment. It seems everyone is quite comfortable. In South Africa in an environment most people do not enjoy. My queen-size bed after a good night's rest, I used yet in the mother city was ready for a fun day. Tree House I started my day with a swim in the pool. Yes, I know, a pool in a tree house. Well, see, the only thing that is really not in the tree house. The Tree House is a long narrow pool of this size and it is perfect for your morning exercise. After my swim and a good healthy breakfast we set off on a trip to Cape Point.

Popular Science

Weekly World News

The AOPA pilot, voice of general aviation

Guide to America's federal jobs, a complete directory of U.S. government career opportunities

Ward's business directory of U.S. private and public companies